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San Luis Obispo, CA

Flood Risk Score: 14/100 · Rank #716 of 3,277 counties

San Luis Obispo County in California has 12 FEMA disaster declarations on record covering 1967–2023, most recently Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides on Mar 10, 2023 (DR-3592). Its flood risk grade is A (Low risk), ranking #716 of 3,277 U.S. counties, with 18 NFIP flood insurance claims totaling $747,666 in payouts. Flood risk is relatively low compared to the national average.

14
Risk Score
18
NFIP Claims
$747,666
Total Payouts
12
Disasters
$41,537
Avg Claim
18
Active Policies

FEMA Disaster Declarations in San Luis Obispo County

The 12 most recent federally declared disasters affecting San Luis Obispo County, CA (1967–2023). Total declarations on record: 12.

DeclaredIncident TypeTitleFEMA Disaster #
Mar 10, 2023FloodSevere Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and MudslidesDR-3592
Jan 14, 2023FloodSevere Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and MudslidesDR-4683
Jan 9, 2023FloodSevere Winter Storms, Flooding, and MudslidesDR-3591
Apr 1, 2017FloodSevere Winter Storms, Flooding, and MudslidesDR-4308
Mar 16, 2017FloodSevere Winter Storms, Flooding, and MudslidesDR-4305
Jan 26, 2011FloodSevere Winter Storms, Flooding, and Debris and MUD FlowsDR-1952
Sep 13, 2005HurricaneHurricane Katrina EvacuationDR-3248
Feb 9, 1983Coastal StormCoastal Storms, Floods, Slides & TornadoesDR-677
Feb 15, 1978FloodCoastal Storms, Mudslides & FloodingDR-547
Feb 8, 1973FloodSevere Storms, High Tides & FloodingDR-364
Jan 26, 1969FloodSevere Storms & FloodingDR-253
Jan 2, 1967FloodSevere Storms & FloodingDR-223

Score Breakdown

The composite score of 14 is calculated from four weighted factors. See our methodology for details.

Claims Density
40%
0
Disaster Frequency
25%
26
Claim Severity
20%
0
Year-over-Year Trend
15%
50

Other Counties in California

CountyGradeScoreClaimsDisasters
San BernardinoA142015
HumboldtA15314
MendocinoA15113
RiversideA152216
VenturaA152612
Del NorteA13010
View All Counties in California

Frequently Asked Questions

How many FEMA disaster declarations does San Luis Obispo County, CA have?

San Luis Obispo County, CA has 12 federal disaster declarations on FEMA record (1967–2023). The 5 most recent are: Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (declared Mar 10, 2023, DR-3592); Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (declared Jan 14, 2023, DR-4683); Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides (declared Jan 9, 2023, DR-3591); Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides (declared Apr 1, 2017, DR-4308); Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides (declared Mar 16, 2017, DR-4305). Counts include flood, severe storm, hurricane, and coastal storm declarations from the OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries dataset.

What is the flood risk grade for San Luis Obispo County, CA?

San Luis Obispo County is graded A (composite score 14/100, low risk). It ranks #716 of 3,277 U.S. counties for flood risk in our scoring model. The grade combines NFIP claims density (40%), disaster frequency (25%), claim severity (20%), and year-over-year trend (15%).

How many NFIP flood insurance claims have been filed in San Luis Obispo County?

18 NFIP flood insurance claims have been filed in San Luis Obispo County, CA, totaling $747,666 in payouts. The average claim is $41,537. Source: FEMA FimaNfipClaims v2 dataset.

Has San Luis Obispo County, CA had any recent flood disasters?

Yes. The most recent FEMA declaration affecting San Luis Obispo County was Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides on Mar 10, 2023 (DR-3592). The county has 12 declared disasters in the OpenFEMA record covering 1967–2023.

The this entity record above pulls directly from FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims. What follows is the per-entity context — how this entity sits in the broader U.S. flood risk, NFIP claims, and disaster declarations distribution and which underlying factors drive the headline numbers.

Every number on this page links back to FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims; the methodology page describes the inputs, refresh cadence, and known limitations of the underlying data product.

Practical use of this page is in combination with the comparison and ranking pages elsewhere on the site, which surface the same data for this entity’s peers within U.S. ZIPs, counties, and states. A single-entity reading without peer context can be misleading when an entity is an outlier on one axis but typical on another.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA datasets, 2026.